Sony Drops Android 17 Upgrade for Xperia 10 VI, Citing Storage Limits
Sony has withdrawn a promised Android 17 upgrade for the Xperia 10 VI, meaning owners of the midrange phone will miss a major software update
Sony has withdrawn a promised Android 17 upgrade for the Xperia 10 VI, meaning owners of the midrange phone will miss a major software update they had been told to expect. The company says a storage-related limitation prevents it from delivering an upgrade experience it considers adequate.
The decision reverses Sony’s launch commitment to provide three Android operating system upgrades for the device. Sony disclosed the change in a notice on its website. It said security updates will continue as planned, and that other Xperia models slated for Android 17 are not affected.
A change to the update promise
Sony announced the Xperia 10 VI in 2024 as an upper-midrange handset. It launched with Android 14 and has a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Android 17 was expected to be the phone’s final promised operating system upgrade. The update was not part of an initial roadmap Sony posted in September, but the company had previously said the model would receive three Android OS upgrades.
In its notice, Sony said a detailed technical assessment found that the phone’s storage configuration had a limitation that made an Android 17 upgrade unsuitable. The company did not spell out exactly what about the storage prevents the update or provide further technical detail.
Security updates remain planned
The distinction matters for owners: Sony has canceled the operating system upgrade, but says it will keep issuing security updates according to its existing commitment. Those fixes can address security issues without moving the phone to a newer Android version.
Sony is not widely known for fast Android OS updates, but the change stands out because the company had promised a specific number of upgrades for the Xperia 10 VI. The company’s statement does not indicate any broader change to Android 17 plans for its other Xperia devices.
For Xperia 10 VI owners, the next update to watch for is therefore a security patch, not Android 17. Sony has not provided a revised timetable in the notice.
